What is Critical Race Theory? By: Eliana Sonderup
Britannica explains critical race theory as “an intellectual movement and a framework of legal analysis according to which race is a culturally invented category used to oppress people of color and the law and legal institutions in the United States are inherently racist insofar as they function to create and maintain social, political, and economic inequalities between white and nonwhite people.” This definition states that race was invented by society to be able to oppress people of color, meaning in this theory, race was solely
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created in order to be able to oppress. The second part of the statement claims the legal system in the United states is inherently racist because of race being created.
likely to be convicted of the crime. At the same time, one-in-three African American boys born in a year can expect to go to jail. For white boys, this number is one-in-seventeen.
According to humanrightspulse critical race theory says that racism is not something of the past, but it still exists in our lives now. It says that slavery and segragation being legal in the past puts a damper in society and keeps racism around.
If studies have shown a racial bias in our legal system, why are people against teaching critical race theory in schools?
Critical race theory was created as a movement because the civil rights movement had lost its momentum, and there was a chance that the work could be undone. They wanted to show and prove how the legal system was racially biased against people of color. The debate on whether or not our legal system is actually racially biased is a study that has been going on for years. According to sentencingproject, African Americans are more likely to be arrested than white americans. Once they are arrested, African Americans are 5.9 times more
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Many want critical race theory to be taught in schools so that they can raise the next generation to understand and change how society views race.
Barbara Sprunt for NPR explains in an article how some people misunderstand critical race theory. Sprunt explains that people may explain critical race theory as “any conversation about race that white people are uncomfortable having” including things such as white supremacy, anti-racism, and more. Others deemed critical race theory as racist on NPR’s article. An unnamed person in the NPR article says that they don’t think critical race theory should be taught because it is based on theory and not actual fact. On the other side of things, the people who believe that critical race theory should be taught believe it to be a more honest side of education, according to humanrightspulse.
Artwork By: Emmett Curran
Critical race theory is being brought up quite often regarding it being taught in schools. To understand this controversy, it is first important to understand what critical race theory is.
